Florida Law Enforcement Face Challenges Catching Gas Station Skimmers

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – It's the risk you take whenever you fill up your tank. Skimmers, hidden in gas pumps, can steal your bank information in seconds and it happens a lot in Florida.

Just a few days after Mike McDonough's wife pumped gas at a Mobile station in Davie, he received an email alert from his bank.

"I get alerts saying this is where your credit card was used," said McDonough. "I was like 'That's odd. I don't remember making that purchase.'"

Turns out he didn't. McDonough was able to get the fraudulent charge taken off his account with his bank. No stranger to fraud, he filed a report with local police because he believed he was a victim of a gas skimming fraud. However, he is part of a small percentage – most people do not report it when they are victims of crimes like these.

Skimmers are small electronic devices often installed in places like gas pumps and bank ATMs. In the past four years especially, they have been popping up all over the state of Florida.

"How often do you see something on your bank statement, it's such a minute number, you call your bank and they just fix it for you," said Officer Christian Lata with Hollywood Police on why so many people do not report the crimes.

McDonough took it even a further and went back to the gas station to take a closer look at the pump his wife used.

"It was farther away from the central location, the cashier's location," observed McDonough.

That used to be a tip in avoiding gas skimmers: stay away from the gas pumps farthest away from the cashier and the gas pumps closest to the exits. It is a safety tip many people know, but so do the criminals.

"I have found them right in the middle," said Ana Perez, a gas inspector with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. "Sometimes people might look more in the corners, so [the criminals] put [the skimmers] in the middle.

Perez, who checks for skimmers daily, said the criminals work fast.

"Within 30 seconds," said Perez.

The state department she works for handles these crimes. They have removed about 2,400 skimmers since 2015. Over 1,000 of those were just in the last year. Those numbers don't even include all of the skimmers located by gas station employees themselves or the ones detected by federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. There is no centralized way of keeping track of how many gas-skimming cases there are.

(This data is from the Florida Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services)

Criminals are getting smarter and the numbers of gas skimming cases seem to be going up. But does that mean gas skimming is on the rise?

According to, Mary Barzee, the Deputy Commissioner for Consumer Affairs for Florida, not necessarily.

"We're getting better at detecting them," said Barzee as to why the numbers could be higher. "Their means are getting more sophisticated but so are our detection methods.

Barzee said many of them use a universal key, easily found for sale on the Internet. Wawa is a gas station company that has a very specific key.

Gas skimmers also used to have to come back physically to the pumps and retrieve the skimmers, according to Barzee.

"With advanced technology, the information is obtainable [even] via Bluetooth or remote," said Barzee.

Local law enforcement agencies also deal with skimmers.

Hollywood Police, for example, have two full-time detectives who go out quarterly and inspect gas stations and other places that could be hit, like ATMs.

"When we do find skimmers, then what we will do is we'll see if any police reports came out of that address," explained Officer Lata. "Take the skimmer with us [and] forensics team try to investigate to see where it came from. It's really hard to do though."

It is hard to trace back a skimmer to its source but in some cases, people have been caught red-handed.

Barzee said the criminals often skim card after card and use that to buy gift cards, visa cards, or buy more gas to sell on the black market.

In March, Commissioner Nikki Fried of Florida's Agriculture and Consumer Services announced she supported the creation of a task force focused on credit card skimming. The task force would be made up of law enforcement and industry officials like gas station owners and credit card company representatives. They would work together to see why this is happening in Florida more than other states and what they can do to find this.

The bill that would have created this task force did not pass, but Commissioner Fried is still fully supportive of it. They are hoping next year, it will be re-introduced, passed, and signed into law.

Until then, Perez gives some tips on what to look for when going to the pump.

Most gas stations are required to have security measures. Many of them use a tape or seal that goes on the side of the machine or on top of the key.

"Pay attention that the security tape doesn't say void," said Perez. "Might mean dispenser has been compromised."

Some gas stations, like Wawa, have already turned to encrypted card readers, something all Florida gas stations will be required to have by October 1, 2020. However, the date has been pushed back at least once.

Even if gas pumps have these encrypted readers, gas skimmers can still find a way.

With overlay skimmers, criminals don't even need to open up the gas pumps.

As agencies all across the state are working to combat skimmers, ultimately the best way to avoid being a victim is to use cash for gas.

If you use a card, use a credit card and not a debit card.

Pay inside when you can with the cashier and try to pump gas away from home, so it is harder to guess the zip code associated with your card.